Legacy of the Former “Colored” School No. 4, a 19th-century Black heritage site in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Via Zoom
New York City has too few extant buildings that reflect the complex historical trajectory, milestones and breadth of the African American experience in the great metropolis. But there’s a city-owned building, hidden in plain sight in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, that sheds a telling light on Gotham’s forgotten past — the former “Colored” School No. 4. Drawing from the city’s own documentary resources in the Municipal Archives and elsewhere, historian Eric K. Washington will discuss his advocacy of the curiously idle schoolhouse building — recently featured in the New York Times, and other print and broadcast media — which has stood on West 17th Street for over a century and a half. Learn more about the notable teachers, students and visitors associated with this forlorn, yet remarkably surviving, Black heritage site, that is prompting a considerable number of community voices to call for its official city landmark designation.
Friend / Senior $20; General Admission $25